Contents

Wilhelm Reich and the post-Reichians are considered the central element of body psychotherapy.[7] From the 1930s Reich became known for the idea that muscular tension reflected repressed emotions, what he called 'body armour', and developed a way to use pressure to produce emotional release in his clients.[8] Reich was expelled from the psychoanalytic mainstream and his work found a home in the 'growth movement' of the 1960s and 1970s and in the countercultural project of 'liberating the body'.[8] Perhaps as a result, body psychotherapy was marginalised within mainstream psychology and was seen in the 1980s and 1990s as 'the radical fringe of psychotherapy'.[9] Body psychotherapy's marginal position may be connected with the tendency for charismatic leaders to emerge within it, from Reich onwards.[10]

Alexander Lowen in his Bioenergetic analysis and John Pierrakos in Core energetics extended Reich's finding of the segmented nature of body armour: "The muscular armour has a segmented arrangement...always transverse to the torso, never along it".[11][12] Lowen claimed that "No words are so clear as the language of body expression".[13] Subsequently the Chiron approach added influences from Gestalt therapy.[14]

The early 2000s saw a 'renaissance of body psychotherapy' which was part of a broader increased interest in the body and embodiment in psychology and other disciplines including philosophy, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies.[15]Object relations theory has arguably opened the way more recently for a fuller consideration of the body-mind in psychotherapy.[16][17][18]

There are numerous branches of body psychotherapy, often tracing their origins to particular individuals: for example, 'Bioenergetic analysis' to the work of Lowen and Pierrakos; 'Radix' to the work of Chuck Kelley; Organismic Psychotherapy to the work of Malcolm and Katherine Brown;[19] 'Biosynthesis' to the work of David Boadella;[20] 'Biodynamic Psychology' to that of Gerda Boyesen; 'Rubenfeld Synergy' to Ilana Rubenfeld's work;[21] 'Body-Mind Centering®' to Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen's work, and 'Body-mind Psychotherapy' to Susan Aposhyan; [22]the development of Jack Painter's 'Postural and Energetic Integration' into a psychotherapeutic modality.[23]

Many of these contributors to body psychotherapy were influenced by the work of Wilhelm Reich, while adding and incorporating a variety of other influences.[24] Syntheses of these approaches are also becoming accepted and recognised in their own right (e.g. The Chiron Approach: Chiron Association of Body Psychotherapists).[25]

Alongside the body psychotherapies built directly on the work of Reich, there is a branch of post-Jungian body psychotherapies, developed from Jung's idea of the 'somatic unconscious'.[26] While many post-Jungians dismiss Reich and do not work with the body,[27] contributors to Jungian derived body psychotherapy include Arnold Mindell with his concept of the 'dreambody' and the development of process oriented psychology.[28][29][30][31] Process oriented psychology is known for its focus on the body and movement.[32][33]

Body psychotherapy and dance movement therapy have developed separately and are professionally distinguished, however they have significant common ground and shared principles including the importance of non-verbal therapeutic techniques and the development of body-focused awareness.[34]

A review of body psychotherapy research finds there is a small but growing empirical evidence base about the outcomes of body psychotherapy, however it is weakened by the fragmentation of the field into different branches and schools.[35] The review reports that one of the strongest studies is longitudinal (2 year) outcome research conducted with 342 participants across 8 different schools (Hakomi Experiental Psychology, Unitive Body Psychotherapy, Biodynamic Psychology, Bioenergetic Analysis, Client-Centred Verbal and Body Psychotherapy, Integrative Body Psychotherapy, Body-Oriented Psychotherapy, and Biosynthesis). Overall efficacy was demonstrated in symptom reduction, however the study design limited further substantive conclusions.[36]

The review of outcome research across different types of body-oriented psychotherapy concludes that the best evidence supports efficacy for treating somatoform/psychosomatic disorders and schizophrenia,[37] while there is also support for 'generally good effects on subjectively experienced depressive and anxiety symptoms, somatisation and social insecurity.'[38]

Body psychotherapy is one modality used in a multi-modal approach to treating psychological trauma, particularly PTSD and C-PTSD.[39][40][41][42]

Recovering a sense of physical boundaries through sensorimotor psychotherapy is an important part of re-establishing trust in the traumatised.[43] Blending somatic and cognitive awareness, such an approach reaches back for inspiration to the pioneering work of Janet, as well as employing the more recent work of António Damásio.[44]

The necessity of often working without touch with traumatised victims presents a special challenge for body psychotherapists.[45]

The EABP was founded in 1988 to promote the inclusion of Body Psychotherapy within a broader process of professionalisation, standardisation and regulation of psychotherapy in Europe, driven by the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP).[47] The EABP Board committed to meeting the EAP standards for establishing the scientific validity of psychotherapy modalities and achieved this in 1999/2000 for Body Psychotherapy as a whole, with various individual modalities subsequently also achieving this recognition.[48]
EABP has a bi-annual conference; organises a Council of ten National B-P Associations; supports a FORUM of Body-Psychotherapy Organisations, which accredits more than 18 B-P training organisations in 10 different countries; the EABP website also provides a list of research papers; a searchable bibliography of body-psychotherapy publications, containing more than 5,000 entries.[49]

The USABP was formed in June 1996[50] to provide professional representation for body psychotherapy practitioners in the United States. The USABP launched a peer-reviewed professional journal in 2002, the USA Body Psychotherapy Journal, which was published twice-yearly from 2002–2011.[51] In 2012, the sister organisations, EABP and USABP, together launched the International Body Psychotherapy Journal.[52]

There is also an Australian Association of Somatic Psychotherapy Australia [53]

^Young, C. (2011). The history and development of Body Psychotherapy: European collaboration. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 6(1), 57–68. doi:10.1080/17432979.2010.545189 (p.65)

^Payne, H. (2006). Tracking the web of interconnectivity (Editorial). Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy: An International Journal for Theory, Research and Practice, 1(1), 7–15. DOI: 10.1080/17432970500468117 (p.9)

^Young, C. 2011, 'The history and development of Body Psychotherapy: European collaboration,' Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy: An International Journal for Theory, Research and Practice, 6:1, DOI: 10.1080/17432979.2010.545189 p.59